title: Correlation between pigmentation and larval settlement deterrence by Pseudoalteromonas sp. sf57.
abstract: The red-pigmented marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. sf57 forms a biofilm that deters larval settlement of the tube-building polychaete Hydroides elegans. To investigate the correlation between pigmentation and larval settlement deterrence, mutants of sf57 with deficient or altered pigmentation were generated by transposon mutagenesis. Five groups of pigmented mutants were obtained, viz. white, yellow, pink, dark red, and white-to-red. The white mutant WM1, which exhibited a substantial increase in bacterial density in the biofilm, became inductive to larval settlement. The other mutants that showed a lesser increase in bacterial density in their biofilms either retained their deterrence or induced higher larval settlement rates, but did not become inductive strains. Analysis of the disrupted genes in these mutants suggests that the type II secretion pathway, the LysR transcriptional regulator, NAD(P)-binding proteins, exonuclease, pyruvate metabolism, flagella assembly, and cell membrane processes may play a role in the regulation of pigmentation in sf57.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Organic Pollution Process and Control, Zhejiang University, Hang Zhou, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Li
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Mu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhiliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Pei-Yuan
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Qian
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D057219:Biofouling / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D009154:Mutation; D010858:Pigmentation; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000378:metabolism*; D011077:Polychaeta / Q000502:physiology*; D031161:Pseudoalteromonas / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D010860:Pigments, Biological